1) Be ready for regulations and mitigate risk
Sustainable development is becoming increasingly important to both private and public actors. Businesses, governments, and consumers are considering the impact of their decisions. Private businesses and their sustainability efforts are being closely watched by consumers.
The pressure to act on sustainability issues is rising and governments are developing new policies to enforce and make some practices common practice.
Preparing and evaluating these risks, or even already implementing some changes, will help your business be ready when such policies are in place. While you can already reap the benefits of becoming more, you also mitigate the risk of future regulations disrupting your business by adopting such practices.
2) Customer demand and brand reputation
Business environment is a crowded space and branding is everything.
Consumers are increasingly concerned about the impacts of their purchasing decisions and look to companies to address these issues.
Surveys have found that consumers are not only willing to switch to products offered by companies with a purpose but to even pay extra for a more sustainable choice.
It is becoming a deciding factor for choosing products. Storytelling about your sustainability efforts can help strengthen your brand, but only if it is real. Greenwashing and overclaiming your sustainability efforts can significantly damage the brand image.
3) Reduce costs
Sustainability is also about efficiency and efficient use of our resources. Making sure materials are not wasted and investing into energy saving technology can also reduce the variable costs of your business and thus have a positive impact on your bottom line.
4) New business opportunities
Starting your sustainability journey will require taking a close look at your entire business.
Doing this will help you identify risk areas and can uncover new opportunities of innovation, better products or discovering new markets.
Mitigating future risk and preparing for disruptions is one way of future proofing a business and ensuring a long-term success.
5) Climate change disruptions
The effects of climate change are already disrupting some industries due to shortages of matrials, water scarcity or extreme weather events.
Scarcity of resources is not only affecting the ability to source the needed inputs but it also affects the prices of those materials. Business operations are directly affecting climate change and thus managing the comapny´s carbon footprint is crucial in mitigating this risk.
If you want to find ways of improving your business through sustainability give us a call at +45 60 55 20 99 or send an email jsv@in2sustainability.dk and we´ll help you figure out what to do.
Lívia Petrufová
Sustainability konsulent